Memory
by DAMalfoy22
Summary: A spell gone awry leads to understanding far greater than Harry and Draco could have imagined. (A request from a reader).


"Alright, class!" Professor Flitwick started, effectively quieting both the Slytherin and Gryffindor eighth years, "Today we will be learning the spell: '_mentem suam diffundi'._ Can anyone tell me what it is and why it is used?"

Predictably, Hermione raised her hand with the answer. Getting a nod from Flitwick, she explained, "Well, Sir, it is a spell that allows the caster to enter the other person's mind and go through their memories. It's mainly used in court cases where the person on stand wants to show something but doesn't want the entire courtroom to see it."

Harry took an interest in the proceedings at the description. He was a little concerned that they would be teaching a bunch of young adults a spell that could grant you access into another's mind. He thought about all the secrets he's privy to due to the war and can't help but worry about someone using the spell on him and learning about things like Horcruxes.

"Correct Ms. Granger, five points to Gryffindor." Flitwick said with a smile, "However, do not go thinking you can all use this spell on each other to look at their thoughts. Oh, no! This spell requires complete consent from both parties, otherwise, it will simply not work! Hence why it is more commonly used just among friends, family, or lovers who wish to show each other something important or personal."

Hearing about the consent portion, Harry settled back in his chair once more, relieved that no one would be able to use it against him.

"We do still need to be careful, though," Flitwick continued, "as you never know what an improperly cast spell will do! Fear not, however, as there is a very simple way to tell if the spell was cast correctly!"

He soon had everyone in the class stand as the desks and chairs were moved to stack at the sides of the room. Flitwick then demonstrated the movements and let them know the incantation as well as show them how, when done correctly, purple sparks will come out from the wand.

After another warning about not pointing your wand at someone else, Harry, Hermione, and Ron began practising next to each other. Both Harry and Hermione managed to cast it perfectly within a few tries, while Ron struggled a bit longer before getting the hang of it. Being some of the first ones to finish, Harry turned to watch the others and see if anyone in Gryffindor needed any help.

About twenty minutes into the lesson, Harry heard a commotion to his right, causing him to turn and check it out. In the little time he was able to, Harry observed that someone had seemingly pushed Draco Malfoy while he was in the middle of the incantation, causing him to accidentally point his wand at Harry himself.

The last thing Harry saw was a few sparks of blue and Draco falling towards him with a panicked look.

"Oh dear," he vaguely hears Flitwick say before everything turned to dark.

~~~DH~~~

Harry awoke to pure blackness. Everything around him was pitch black, yet he was still able to see himself completely along with another person, presumably Draco Malfoy going by the hair colour. While he waited for the blond to wake up, Harry took stock of the situation. Having been in far stranger situations, he managed to stay rather calm as he went about remembering what happened before he'd gotten here.

Remembering the spell they'd been casting and how Draco had cast it as well as landed on him, he couldn't help but groan at the implications. All of a sudden, he was quite content with the Slytherin not having woken up yet as he was sure he didn't want to know what would happen once he did.

Sooner than Harry had hope, the blond seemed to begin waking up, looking around in pure confusion before he spotted Harry. Once he looked at the raven-haired teen, everything became clear once more, allowing for him to groan as well.

"Why does this kind of thing always happen around you, Potter?" Draco groaned.

"Trust me, Malfoy, I've been asking myself that since I was a kid," Harry said with a slight smile, offering his hand to help the other boy up from the ground.

Having had made a truce after the events of the war and Harry standing trial in defence for both Draco and Narcissa, Draco simply smiled lightly back while accepting the helping hand. When their hands touched, however, there was suddenly a flurry of movement around them. They watched in both parts confusion and horror as the blackness around them changed completely until a terrible scene was playing out in front of them.

"W-what?" Draco asked, "What is going on? Where are we and who are those people?"

Harry, completely frozen in horror, was unable to take his eyes away from the scene. While it was a familiar one for him, it was still extremely unwelcome and he felt his eyes start to water at the clarity with which it was being shown.

"Harry!?" Draco nearly yelled out, obviously having been trying to get his attention for a fair bit of time, "What is happening?"

"It's-" Harry began, unable to stop from choking a little on his response, "It's a memory… My memory, to be exact."

Harry turned away from the scene being shown through the eyes of his former self. Instead, he occupied himself with taking in Draco's reaction to it all. Confusion soon turned horrifying clarity as the blond had obviously realized which memory this was.

"Why is this happening, Harry?" the blond nearly whispered, eyes never moving from the scene playing out.

"I'm assuming it has something to do with the mind wandering spell going wrong," Harry whispered back, opting to continue watching Draco rather than relive a moment he was never able to forget, despite how young he was when it happened.

He watched as the other boy flinched back at the appearance of Voldemort and Lily's screams, unable to stop his own reaction to it as well. Finally, the blond looked away from the scene as well, right before Voldemort was about to cast the final curses. The two boys stared at each other, flinching once more at the two flashes of green that seemed to surround the entire area.

"Harry, I-" Draco started as the memory came to a close, "I'm so sorry… How do we make this stop?"

"I don't think we can make it stop," he answered as another memory started to appear around them, "we'll just have to continue watching them and hope that we'll get rescued sometime soon."

"Okay… Okay…" Draco said, seeming to be steeling himself, "Look, Potter, everything that I see here… It's just between us, alright? I won't tell a soul. I'll even unbreakable vow it if you want and-"

Harry smiled at the nervous determination on the blond's face. It was new to have the blond trying so hard to reassure him, as it had usually been Harry doing that for Draco instead. While the war had changed everyone, Harry believed no one had changed more than Draco Malfoy. It was the reason Harry had stood trial for him and the reason why he'd accepted the truce proposed by the blond not long after the trial.

Harry had quickly learned that the blond had been putting up a huge front all their time at school. He and his Mum had been stuck in a terrible situation with a terrible man running their lives. Lucius had been even worse than Harry had thought, treating his family members as nothing but pawns, forcing Draco to be someone he wasn't.

Despite being on different sides of the war, Harry found himself admiring Draco's strength and determination. He did everything to keep him and his Mother alive, yet he'd also done as much as he could behind the scenes to help everyone out. Even Neville had testified on Malfoy's behalf, stating that the blond had helped in sneaking food into the Room of Requirement and kept secret their location after he'd discovered where they'd been hiding.

Anyone who had the courage to help others despite knowing there would be terrible consequences is someone to be admired in Harry's books.

Smiling lightly at the other boy, Harry decided to put the blond out of his misery as the boy continued to try to reassure Harry that he'd keep any secrets.

"Draco," he began, grabbing onto the blond's shoulder to get him to stop talking, "I know you won't tell anyone. I trust you."

The blond blushed slightly at the trust given to him. He'd never completely felt like he was worthy of someone's trust, but especially not someone like Harry. He didn't know what he'd done to deserve having Harry in his life as a sort-of friend, but he was immensely grateful for it.

Harry had been there for him after the war. Draco had cried many a time on the raven-haired boy's shoulder. Without fail, Harry was always willing to listen to him and help him figure everything out. No matter how hard he tried to reciprocate, though, Harry always shut him down in the nicest ways possible.

It was obvious to the blond that Harry has a lot of walls built up around the things that happened in his life. While he could understand some of it, like the parts about Voldemort, he could not fathom why he was so closed off even about simple things like who he lived with before coming to Hogwarts.

The way Draco sees it, he figures this could be really good for Harry. He'd be forced in a way to talk about everything that was going on and Draco would then be able to repay him for all the times he'd helped Draco out ever since the trial.

Suddenly realizing that they'd been staring at each other intently rather than paying attention to the memories being shown, they both blushed lightly at each other before abruptly turning away.

"What's this?" Draco asked, suddenly very curious about the memory playing out.

The boys seemed to be in a very small room which was pitch black. The only thing they could see was each other, though they could hear a lot of movement happening outside of the room.

"We're in my cupboard, I believe," Harry said, trying his hardest to sound nonchalant, though he was desperately nervous about someone finally knowing about his childhood.

"You're what?" Draco asked, preparing to turn towards the other boy for an explanation when, suddenly, crying started from within the closet.

Harry winced internally, knowing what would come next. Draco, confused about why there would be a baby crying in a cupboard, was immensely surprised when the cupboard door was opened to show a horse-faced lady with an apron and wooden spoon in her hand looking extremely angry.

"_Shut up, boy!" _she screamed shrilly. When the baby, obviously Harry based on the lightning bolt scar visibly seen on his forehead, continued crying, the woman smacked the spoon on the side of the crib, very nearly hitting the young Harry, until the baby stopped crying out of fear.

Horrified by the scene, Draco wasn't even able to take in the cupboard itself before the memory suddenly ended, turning into a completely new one.

"What…." Draco couldn't even finish the sentence as a new memory began playing.

The next memory that played was less traumatising, though still very telling as it showed toddler Harry playing with very old, broken toys while his cousin was offered new and obviously expensive toys.

"Harry?" Draco questioned, turning to the other boy to hopefully get some answers, "I thought you were pampered? What is going on?"

Harry closed his eyes tightly, not entirely sure he was ready to talk about everything he'd gone through as a child. He felt himself relax slightly, however, at the feeling of a hand on his arm. He opened his eyes once more to find himself looking directly into Draco's uniquely grey eyes.

"I lived with my Aunt and Uncle and Cousin Dudley." Harry began, "My Aunt hated magic. I think she was secretly jealous about my Mum having magic and not her… Whatever the case, she despised magic and she resented being forced to take care of me."

The memory changed while Harry was speaking, but Draco paid no mind to it in order to properly take in what was being said. Once he was done speaking, Draco was about to respond when something from the new memory suddenly caught his attention.

Though it seemed like something in the background, something fleeting, he found he was able to feel what the memory-Harry was feeling. He felt fear flow through him, causing him to pay attention to the memory once more.

Draco recognized that they were outside of a Muggle primary school. He saw young Harry had been talking to some of the other kids, but his cousin and a group of other older boys had come over and intervened.

"_What? You're going to be _friends _with this little _freak_?"_ Dudley laughed, forcing the other kids to take a few steps away from Harry, "_That's right,"_ he continued, "_No one is _ever _to be friends with this freak, you hear me?"_

Draco watched sadly as all of the little kids nodded in acceptance before turning their backs on young Harry before running off to tell all of the others that no one was to be friends with the boy. As this was happening, Dudley and the rest of the gang converged on Harry, causing him to start running as fast as he could, obviously knowing what would be coming next.

Right as the others were about to grab him, he turned a corner and suddenly disappeared, only to reappear on the roof of the school, crying hard.

"That was the first day my Aunt and Uncle started calling me 'freak' instead of 'boy' at home," Harry said monotonously, getting Draco's immediate attention, "It was also the day Dudley and his gang came up with the game of 'Harry Hunting'".

Draco was surprised that Harry was telling him all of this. It was obvious to the blond that it was a difficult admission to make. It was also one that he could have easily hidden, as it had not been shown in the memory itself.

Not knowing what to say, he simply reached over and grabbed the other boy's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Harry managed not to jump only due to his experience with not reacting to surprising circumstances. He did, however, smile slightly towards the ground, a light blush coming up from under his collar. Despite the circumstances, Harry found himself relaxing under Draco's touch. He relaxed even more when he noticed the change in scenery.

He smiled a true smile, subconsciously taking a few steps forward and consequently pulling Draco along with him by the hand that was still attached to his own.

"Where are we, Harry?" Draco asked. He was a bit confused as he had believed that they were only going to be seeing his bad memories and so far, this one looked fairly normal and light. Not to mention Harry himself was smiling like a little kid in Honeydukes.

"We're at the library that was close to the Dursley's house," Harry said, still pulling Draco along as he went nearer to his past-self, "I would come here all the time and read all of the fantasy books."

Draco smiled at the sight of a young Harry curled up in a bean bag chair and reading a novel which was no doubt too advanced for most children his age.

"This was the only place Dudley didn't come to find me, so I was safe." the raven-haired teen said, kneeling down to read the title of the book his former self was reading, all while still holding lightly onto Draco's hand, "It was also the only place that I could talk about or read about fantasy stuff. I always did have a particular interest in magic. Whether that was because I inherently knew that I came from magic or if it was simply because it was forbidden, I don't exactly know."

Draco smiled sadly at the picture the two Harry's made at that moment. While Draco was glad there seemed to be some happiness from his childhood, it still seemed to come with some sort of sad backstory. He was unsure how Harry had managed to stay so upbeat and loving what with all he'd had to go through in his life. As if fighting Voldemort every year and having your friends die around you wasn't difficult enough, Harry had also had to deal with abusive family members all on his own.

And yet, he'd still managed to turn into the most loving and caring person Draco had ever known. Harry inspired him. Draco figured that if the raven-haired boy could go through all of this and still be a good person, then maybe Draco could too. Maybe there was hope for him and his own future.

No one had ever seen potential in the former Death Eater who still, unfortunately, carries a, now faded, Dark Mark. But Harry had. After the war, Harry had always been able to look and see right through him to the real Draco Malfoy that he'd had to hide his entire life because of Lucius. And Draco found himself more than grateful for every second he ever got to and will, hopefully, get to spend with the 'boy-who-lived', with just Harry. And every day he sees something new to admire about the other boy.

As the boys were both within their own thoughts, the scene abruptly changed, causing them both to be extremely disoriented as they had gone from such a peaceful, quiet moment, to something entirely different altogether.

Harry, still kneeling on the ground, flinched at the sudden appearance of his Uncle yelling at a younger version of himself.

Draco pulled him up by their connected hands, putting them side by side. Immediately, Draco noticed that the subtle peaceful and calming feeling of the last memory had completely disintegrated, allowing only for fear and frustration to show through. Oddly, Draco also felt himself become kind of tired and very hungry.

Knowing that the memories were only able to imprint a small bit of the emotions onto him and Harry, he could not fathom what that meant for how the original Harry had been feeling during this point in his history.

"_Well, freak!?" _the Uncle screamed, a malicious and self-satisfied look on his face, "_Did you finish all of your chores on time?"_

"_No, Sir."_ the past-Harry said rather meekly, something Draco had never truly heard before.

Draco continued watching the scene play out, alarmed when he realized they were sending him into the cupboard, which now held a ripped mattress along with a single blanket with holes riddled throughout it, without even giving him any food to eat.

"They didn't even feed you?" Draco whispered timidly, not really prepared for the answer, but feeling the need to ask it anyway.

"Not often enough." Harry responded in kind, "No doubt that mixed with living in a cupboard most of my life probably caused me to be so small compared to everyone else in our year. They'd work me to the bone doing chore work. Every week the list would be longer than the last and I would only get food if I finished it all. Even then, sometimes they would add something on a minute before dinner just to have an excuse not to feed me."

"Harry, I…" Once again, Draco found himself speechless. So instead of trying to say words which would never fix things anyway, he simply pulled the other boy towards him by the hand until he could hug the boy closely.

The two ignored the rest of the scene along with a few others in order to simply hold onto each other. Harry found himself pressing his face into Draco's collarbone, a little to short to reach his shoulder without standing awkwardly. He wrapped his arms around the blond's waist, content with the feeling of the other boy wrapping his own arms around Harry's shoulders.

They continued that way for quite a while. Draco enjoyed every second of it that he could, soaking in the feeling of Harry's breath gliding across his collarbone, the raven hair tickling his chin as he rested it gently on top of the other boy's head.

Harry enjoyed the feeling of being so close to someone he admired as well as who had always seen past the 'Boy-Who-Lived' stuff and straight through to just 'Harry'. He also greatly enjoyed the feeling of the blond's hand wandering up and down his back soothingly and the boy's other hand resting at the nape of his neck, playing with the shorter hairs there. The feeling even made him shiver lightly, causing him to tilt his head upwards in order to nuzzle his nose into the blond's neck.

Draco, in turn, shivered as he felt the boy shift in his arms. He could feel Harry's lips brushing lightly against his neck, forcing him to hold in a gasp at the sensation. In return, he pulled the other boy even closer, running his hand thoroughly through the raven locks, which were much softer than he had anticipated.

Their moment could not last forever, though, as suddenly the memory they found themselves in now caused a deafening 'bang' to echo around them.

Startling, they jumped apart, attempting to draw wands which they did not have with them. Draco, on high alert, only calmed down when he saw the smile on Harry's face. While this obviously was supposed to be a happy memory for the other boy, Draco couldn't quite understand why.

Looking around, there was nothing but concrete and young Harry sleeping on the floor while his cousin took a cot. There seemed to be a wicked storm about outside, with waves crashing dramatically against the rocks outside. Before he could take too much more in, however, the bang happened again and in came Hagrid, having knocked the entire door down, causing rain to come in through the now-open space.

Draco rolled his eyes as the half-Giant mistook Dudley for Harry before smiling as Harry finally showed himself.

"At least you were the smart one who went and hid when the door was kicked down by a Giant," Draco said, moving beside Harry once again.

"This is when I was first told I was a Wizard," Harry said, smiling brightly as he continued to watch the proceedings.

Draco simply joined him, allowing the other the opportunity to get as close to reliving the moment as possible. Draco smiled at the happiness and relief that the memory brought with it.

The two continued to watch in silence as they went through all of the memories of Harry's first time in Diagon Alley, meeting Ron, and seeing Hogwarts Castle for the first time.

When it came time for the sorting ceremony, Draco paid very little mind until he heard the Sorting Hat talking to Harry.

"You were supposed to be in Slytherin, Potter? You've been holding out on me." Draco said teasingly, though he was quite surprised at the turn of events.

"You were actually the reason I ended up in Gryffindor instead," Harry replied, continuing on at Draco's confused look, "You reminded me a bit of Dudley, unfortunately."

"I'm sorry, Harry, I didn't realize-" Draco began, only to be cut off by the other boy taking hold of his hand and squeezing lightly, though not letting go.

"Don't apologize Draco," he said sincerely, "it's in the past now. We've both grown up and moved on and luckily we both pulled our heads out of our arses and managed to become friends."

Draco smiled brilliantly, causing Harry no choice but to smile in return.

After that, they were thrown into the memory of saving Hermione from the Troll in their first year was classified as a happy moment in Harry's life.

"Of course going up against a Troll would be considered one of your happy memories," Draco said, laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

"Hey! I got a lifelong friend out of it, of course it's a great memory." Harry defended, laughing along with the blond.

The next little while consisted of mainly the adventures involving Voldemort mixed in with some of the happy moments Harry had shared with Ron and Hermione. Draco found it endearing that even the simple conversations and study sessions between them were apparently strong enough to be considered some of his happiest moments.

When it got to Year Six, however, both boys were suddenly reminded of a moment in which they both had memories of and both wished nothing more than to forget.

They were harshly reminded when suddenly they were in Myrtle's lavatory and they could hear the blond breaking down. Harry immediately recognized what would come next and winced, wanting to look away but the only other thing to look at was the real-life version of the memory.

Draco watched, transfixed as the events unfolded. Of course, he never got to see the ending as he'd passed out from blood loss and shock. So for the first time, he saw the look of shock, horror, and remorse that flashed across past-Harry's face. He could even feel it from the memory. The feeling was so strong, in fact, he could not imagine what it must have been like in the actual moment, how Harry was even still standing with the amount of guilt that was shooting through him.

Once Severus entered the scene, Draco suddenly noticed that the hand holding his was violently shaking. Looking over in concern, he realized that Harry's entire body was shaking, tears slowly rolling down his cheeks, eyes transfixed on the wounds of past-Draco.

"Hey," Draco murmured softly, "Hey, Harry, it's okay, I'm okay, you're okay."

Pulling Harry into his arms gently, his heart broke at the sob that left the other boy.

"I d-didn't m-mean to" the boy stuttered, tightly gripping onto the blond, "I-I swear I h-had n-no clue wha-what that sp-spell d-did," he cried out.

"I know, Harry," Draco soothed as much as he could, "I know it was an accident, I know you wouldn't have done it otherwise. Shh, everything is okay now."

"Please," he started, pulling away to look into the grey eyes across from his green ones, "p-please, forgive me, Draco, I-"

"Hush," the blond began, holding onto Harry's cheeks in order to brush the tears away with his thumbs, "Of course I forgive you, Harry. I forgave you a very long time ago."

Pulling the boy closer, Draco cradled him to his chest, eventually opting to sit down crosslegged with Harry in his lap, legs draped over one of Draco's knees with his arms wound tightly around Draco's neck.

Draco was glad for the opportunity to not only hold Harry so intimately but also to shield him from the memories that were showing up. With Harry's head tucked into Draco' neck, effectively shielding green eyes from the memories, Draco continued stroking his hands through raven locks whilst watching the memories fly by him.

Most of it went by in a big blur for the blond, a lot of it being things he already heard about. Sometimes he would opt to look at Harry instead. From his vantage point, he could mostly just see the top of a raven head, however, the boy would sometimes move in order to breathe some fresher air, keeping his eyes closed while turning his head slightly.

The side of Harry's head would then be pressed hard against the blond's chest, allowing for Draco to see his soft features. He noticed that the longer they sat together, the more relaxed the other boy became in his arms. It soon got to the point where Harry put all of his weight leaning into Draco, fully relaxing into the embrace. Draco even swore he heard the other boy give a contented sigh.

While Draco had always had a crush on the green-eyed trouble maker, he never allowed himself to hope that something would ever come out of it. Even now, he had to force himself to push the feelings of hope far down, as he was sure the sudden cuddliness only had to do with the situation and the intense emotions being felt. Nothing at all to do with Draco himself.

Despite believing that the other boy could never love him back and knowing that continuing to hold him like this will only make it harder later on when he had to give it up, he couldn't stop himself. Instead, he continued to hold onto him even harder.

Harry, too, was trying to think far less as he was held closely by his companion. He believed that it was only logical for the blond to be trying to comfort him, not realising the extent of Draco's feelings for him. Despite the stab of pain he felt in his heart at the idea that Draco would never be able to reciprocate, he still couldn't stop himself from leaning into the embrace. Turning his head once again to rest his ear against the blond's chest, he gave a small smile and sighed contentedly as he listened to the other boy's heart beating.

Harry tried his hardest to tune all of the memories out, not too concerned about the blond watching them, as he knew the other boy would never use it against him. He knew by the surprised gasp when the boy holding him learned about Horcruxes and another when he heard how many there were. Harry continued to ignore it until he heard Draco's name being called.

Draco also perked up at hearing his name, as he'd been busy watching Harry in his arms. Looking up, he instantly recognized the memory as he'd been there for it. He saw Malfoy Manor as it looked during the war. Luckily, when he and his mother had been released and considered free, they were allowed to keep all of their money, only needing to give up any Dark artifacts that Lucius kept in the Manor. They did one better and gave up the Manor entirely as neither of them wanted to go back to that place which held so many terribly dark memories.

Draco moved his attention back to the memory when he felt a sense of relief flood through him, followed by a feeling of concern. Curious as to what that could mean, he took in the scene. Draco's past self had just arrived into past-Harry's field of view. However, Draco knew that he didn't deny it being Harry until later on, so he was confused where the relief came from.

"Harry?" Draco questioned, "Why were you relieved when I walked in?"

Harry, who had also been watching the scene unfold, quickly ducked his head back onto Draco's neck as he started to blush at the question.

"Oh, well…" he began, nearly mumbling, "Honestly, I was just relieved that you were okay."

"M-me?" Draco stuttered, a bit of hope forming deep in his stomach, "Why were you worried about me while you were out in hiding?"

"Well," Harry said quietly, slightly muffled, lips brushing lightly against the other boy's neck every time he spoke, "I kept seeing visions from Voldemort and sometimes you were in them. I was terrified when I stopped seeing you in them; I'd thought he may have killed you. So it was a relief to know that you were still alive."

Draco couldn't help but pull the boy closer to himself, kissing lightly into the other boy's unruly hair. So lightly, that Harry did not even notice it had happened. Draco smiled to himself, that small bit of hope beginning to grow with each new interaction with the other boy.

"Well," the blond began, "I was quite relieved to see you as well, though not that you were in the Manor, just that you were alive."

"Without you, I wouldn't have escaped that," Harry said, motioning with his head towards the memory which showed past-Draco stuttering out a lie that ended up saving all of Britain's Wizarding community.

"You would have figured something out. I'm sure of it. It was a coward's actions," he replied, squeezing Harry tightly and laying his head against the top of the soft raven hair he'd come to love.

"Don't sell yourself short, Draco," Harry began, lifting his head to stare directly into grey eyes, "That took a lot of courage. You knew you would be punished greatly. I've seen what those punishments entail. It's no small thing you sacrificed. A coward's actions would have been to confirm and leave me to die at Voldemort's hand. That would have been much easier. You have no idea how much I respect you because of your actions that day."

Draco, looking into the green eyes he'd always admired, couldn't help but feel a few tears slip loose as he took in the confidence and pure sincerity behind the other boy's words. He smiled as Harry moved his arms from around the blond's neck and instead cupped both his cheeks, wiping the tears away just as Draco had done not too long ago.

"Thank you," Draco whispered, closing his eyes and leaning into the other's gentle touch.

"No, thank _you_" he responded, leaning his forehead against the blond, sitting nose to nose, feeling their breaths blow across one another's lips. Due to the height difference, they each became uncomfortable since one had to tilt their neck up while the other tilted down. However, neither wanted to break the lovely moment they were having, therefore neither dared to move.

They managed to stay that way up until a feeling of deep sadness mixed with determination was felt deeply by the blond. Looking up, it didn't dawn on him for a few moments what was so significant about this particular memory. To him, it just looked like another memory of Harry walking through the forest while on the run. However, he quickly realised the mistake of his assumption when he figured out that he wasn't in just any forest, but in the Forbidden Forest.

"Was this-?" Draco found he couldn't quite finish what he was going to say.

"I was prepared to walk to my own death, yes," Harry said calmly, too calmly if someone were to ask Draco's opinion.

They watched in silence as he continued to walk. It wasn't until Draco saw the figures of Harry's family members appear that he decided to look away out of respect for the other boy's privacy.

"You can look, Draco, I don't mind," Harry said, smiling reassuringly at him, though still with a bit of sadness behind his eyes at the memory playing.

"I thought it would be too personal, that you wouldn't want someone to see this." Draco nearly whispered, his statement turning more into a question by the end of it.

Harry turned away from him then, looking back towards the memory before answering, "I wouldn't want just anyone to see this, no. But you're not just anyone, Draco. I trust you."

Draco could not believe what he was hearing. Butterflies erupted within his stomach at the words, his brain unable to fully cope and understand with what was being said. He knew Harry trusted him. He knew he had done a lot of work to get to a point where they could trust each other so well. Many nights spent of him bearing his soul to the other boy. He'd never in a million years imagine that Harry would want to reciprocate. Would feel the same trust that he feels for Harry.

He sucked in a deep breath, slightly overwhelmed with the information. With nothing else to do, he squeezed the boy's waist lightly where he'd yet to remove his hands, thanked him as he nuzzled his nose lightly into the messy raven hair, then continued with watching the memory unfold.

They continued watching, Draco surprised by the choice that had awaited him when he'd died and spoke to Dumbledore. He couldn't imagine going through all of that and having to make the choice to either get to move on and go see your family, or go back to the war in the hopes that you'd be able to end it. Draco wasn't entirely sure he'd have been able to make the decision to come back. Especially not when he felt the tiredness that was pouring from the memory.

Eventually, they stopped watching once again, opting to hold onto each other some more instead. They avoided watching all of the funerals, neither wanting to relive those moments ever again. Soon enough, they reached their 'eighth' year at Hogwarts.

Draco watched intently any memories involving him, finding a surprising amount of them, considering they would be considered some of his happiest memories.

At the beginning of their tentative truce, they decided that studying together every once in a while would be a great starting point, not to mention boost the inter-House relationships. Soon enough, it became a regular thing as they got to actually enjoy each others' company. It got to the point where Harry introduced him as a friend to Ron and Hermione and invited him to join them in the Common Room, sometimes even at meals. They even started going out of their way to make time for each other.

One such time showed up in the memories. Draco smiled, remembering that day very clearly. It was the day Draco had openly admitted that Harry was his friend. While he knew that that day was important to himself, he was admittedly surprised to find out that it meant so much to Harry as well. Though, he was starting to think that maybe he'd missed a few very large hints here and there.

As he watched memory after memory flow by of him and Harry together, he started noticing the little things that he'd not caught on to. The seemingly-random-but-actually-quite-calculated knee touches. The brushing of the backs of hands when they walked. The knowing smiles and smirks that were constantly being shot their way whenever they'd interact.

Maybe it was simply being able to feel the emotions behind the memories due to the odd circumstance he and Harry found themselves in right now, but Draco was suddenly feeling very stupid for not having picked up on everything sooner. Clarity struck him and he felt a lovely burn throughout his body at the thought of being able to finally express his feelings without fear of backlash and losing a friend.

"It should be over soon, we're running out of memories," Harry stated, effectively stopping Draco from professing his feelings then and there.

He quickly noticed how red his companion had gotten, obviously embarrassed by the memories being displayed. He was about to say something when he was cut off once again by Harry who had groaned in frustration, thunking his head against Draco's chest in obvious dismay.

"I am so, so sorry," Harry whispered, cringing slightly at what was to come.

Curious as to what could make the other boy react like that, Draco continued watching and listening, much to his companion's dismay.

Past-Harry was sitting with Ron and Hermione in Harry and Ron's dormitory room. They were all on Harry's bed with the aforementioned boy looking wildly nervous, constantly running his hands through his hair.

"_Look," _past-Harry said, picking at a piece of the bedspread, "_there's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to say it… I'm gay."_

"_Oh? Is that all?" _past-Ron said, sounding relieved, "_Mate, with the way you were acting I thought you were about to tell us you were going to die or something."_

"_Oh, Harry dear, you can love whoever you want."_ past-Hermione stated, giving the green-eyed boy a big hug.

__"_Well, there's also something else, actually," _past-Harry said while present-Harry continued attempting to bury himself into Draco, hoping to melt into the floor, "_I'm in love with Draco Malfoy."_

Despite having guessed that Harry could have feelings for him, he never imagined the other boy admitting to loving him. He paid no mind to the rest of the memory, passively recognizing that Ron and Hermione had taken it well, causing relief and happiness to take over the previously tense atmosphere.

Due to his surprise, he was unable to say anything to Harry before the blackness suddenly started converging upon them.

"Wait, Harry!" Draco got out before they'd succumbed to the darkness once more.

~~~DH~~~

Upon waking up, Draco immediately noticed that he was no longer holding onto Harry as he'd last remembered and he also came to the realization that he was lying in a bed in the infirmary. Next to him was Harry himself, obviously still asleep.

He watched the other for a few seconds before being distracted by Madame Pomfrey entering from her office space.

"Ah, it's about time you woke up." she said in her no-nonsense tone, though you could hear a bit of fondness in her voice, "Do you two ever _stop_ getting into trouble, hmm?"

"Unfortunately, trouble seems to search out Harry Potter," Draco responded with a smile, content to let her do her standard checks on the both of them, "Is there a reason he isn't awake yet, Madame?"

"I suspect he'll be awake in a few minutes. He's the one who had to rifle through all of his best and worst memories, after all." she tutted.

"So you know what happened?" Draco asked, only half focusing as he paid more mind to seeing if Harry would wake up.

"Yes, dear. It is not uncommon for at least one student to have an accident such as this each year," she said, with a huff, "I tell them every year that they should put up more cautions, but do they ever listen? Of course not."

Draco smiled at the exasperation he heard in her voice. It seemed that ignoring her safety concerns was a habit of the school. It really didn't surprise him when he thought about Dumbledore and all of his scheming.

"Well, maybe they'll listen to you now that the 'Famous Harry Potter' was a victim of it this time around." Draco reassured, "If anyone can get something like that done, it's Harry."

"You're right, of course." she said, "Oh! Harry! Welcome back to the land of the living. I'm afraid you'll have to just deal with that nasty headache on your own. I can't give you any potions just in case it reacts negatively to the spell."

At Harry's nod of understanding, Pomfrey told them they were free to go before heading back to her office.

Draco looked to the other boy to find him blushing furiously and refusing to meet his gaze.

"Harry," Draco tried to begin, starting to move towards the other. He was cut off, however, by Harry who stuttered out an apology that Draco couldn't understand before he ran out the door.

Hurt and confused out of his mind, Draco played back everything that had happened in their time together. He couldn't understand what was going on until suddenly it dawned on him.

"Oh, Harry" he sighed to himself as he made his way to the eighth year Common Room, "How could you be so blind?"

Draco had realized that the other boy believed he didn't like him in return. He figured Harry must have assumed that his freezing at the information that the boy loved him meant that he didn't feel the same way. Draco groaned, trying to figure out how he could fix this and properly show the green-eyed boy how he felt about him.

Deciding that he wouldn't be able to do anything about it right now as it was night time, he made up a plan that he would execute the next day. He only hoped it would work out how he planned.

~~~DH~~~

Of course, when Harry is involved, plans never go quite the way you want them to. Rather than sweep the raven-haired boy off his feet as the blond had planned, he instead had to adapt to a manhunt. He had forgotten that Harry had the Maurader's Map until the second hour of trying to find the boy, so Draco decided to give up for the day.

In fact, it was by complete chance that Draco managed to catch the other boy by surprise the next day and corner him. He had, for once, gotten up rather late for breakfast as he'd been worrying about how to make things right with Harry. Since he'd missed the first meal, and lunch wasn't for a while yet, he decided to make his way to the kitchens which Harry had shown him.

Once there, he immediately noticed Harry in the corner table, Maurader's Map open but paying no mind to it whatsoever. Unable to believe his luck, he refused to pass up on this golden opportunity. He quickly made his way to the table, sitting directly in front of the other boy, happy that he'd chosen the corner seat which allowed for Draco to block him in a little and hopefully keep him long enough to explain everything.

"Harry-" he began, stopping at the look of pure panic that was sent his way when the other boy recognized who had sat across from him.

"Oh, s-sorry, I'll l-leave you be-" he began to collect his things and started to get up when Draco lightly grabbed onto his wrist to stop him.

"Please." the blond begged, "Don't leave. Just let me explain something."

Sighing, Harry sat back down, chewing his lip aggressively as a nervous habit. Draco sighed in pure relief, shoulders slumping from releasing the tension he hadn't even realized he'd accumulated.

"Harry," he began once again, "I love you, too."

"What!?" Harry immediately asked, head snapping up at the sudden declaration, "You do?"

"Of course I do, you dunce." he playfully answered, "I mean, how could I not, really?"

"You're not… You're not messing with me, right?" Harry tentatively asked.

Normally, Draco would be mad at the accusation. However, due to his knowledge and insight into Harry's life, he was able to understand that it was coming from a place of insecurity in his own ability to be loved, rather than in Draco's ability to love him.

"I would never, Harry. In fact, I'll prove it," he said with a confident smile.

"Oh? How?" the raven-haired boy questioned interestedly.

"Use _Legilimens_ on me, Harry. I know you are capable and you know I'm capable of pushing you out if you happen to go somewhere you didn't mean to. Besides," he continued, reaching his hand across the table to cup Harry's blushing cheek, "I'd trust you with my life, so what are a few memories, hmm?"

Harry felt his eyes water at the display of trust being thrust upon him. He closed his eyes, savouring the moment they were having while he leaned into the hand holding his face so delicately.

"I believe you, Draco. There is no need for the memories. If you truly wish to show me, we can wait until we have access to a Pensieve." He turned his head to the side, brushing his lips against the palm of the blond's hand, kissing it sweetly.

Draco very nearly melted on the spot at the other boy's words and actions. Unable to stop himself, he took his hand away in order to stand up and walk around the small table. Crowding Harry in, who had also stood up in reaction to Draco's abrupt departure, the blond then gently pushed the raven-haired boy until his back rested against the wall.

He put his hand back upon the boy's cheek before leaning down to close the space between them. Draco had imagined this exact kiss a hundred different ways, yet none compared to the real thing. Delicately, their lips touched, both gasping in surprise at the feeling. They stood there sharing one, two, three short kisses, before simply resting their foreheads together, breath still mingling from their closeness.

Suddenly, Harry laughed once, happily.

"What is it, love?" Draco asked, pulling back a little to stare into the other's bright green eyes, pushing a few strands of hair back behind his ear."

Harry blushed at the term of endearment, finding he very much enjoyed it and wanted to hear it more from him.

"It's just that," he replied, smiling brightly, "I figure this will be added to the list of good memories."

At hearing that, Draco smiled in return before swooping down to kiss Harry once more.

"As long as I have anything to say about it, love," Draco said having noticed that the other boy had seemed to like that term, "then you'll have _much_ more good memories than bad."

Harry then wrapped his arms tightly around the blond's neck before moving one hand at the back of his head. He then pulled the blond slightly towards him while standing up on his toes to meet him halfway. He pressed their lips together firmly, this kiss different from the sweet ones of before. These ones were filled with passion.

Draco wasn't slow to respond, quickly wrapping his arms around the other's waist, pulling him as close to himself as possible. Both gasped at the contact, finally pulling apart with Harry resting his head against Draco's chest, listening to the blond's heart beating in double time.

"I love you so much, Dray," Harry said, shyly tilting his head up to give one last kiss to the blond's neck before returning back to his original position.

"And I, you, my love," Draco responded, more than pleased about his nickname and the other boy's shy actions.

He pulled the green-eyed boy even closer to him, content in knowing that they would have all the time in the world to progress their relationship. And this wasn't something either of them wanted to rush or skip over. They wanted to savour every moment, every memory, of their lives together.


End file.
